Birds of a Feather

After familiarizing himself with the operations center, Kevin felt it prudent to introduce himself to his bosses boos and report in to the Chief. Luckily for him, this was a one time deal, and with a ship the size of some small cities, it also meant that he'd be gainfully employed in the work of operations.

All the research he conducted on his first assignment out of the academy was centered around the the operations of the sovereign-class starship. The process of managing ALL of a ships operations hemming on a single department was massive, but a welcomed challenged to the likes of operation officers, the few officers who could do just about any skill, with varying levels of degrees, on the ship.

Standing outside the door, Kevin waited to be granted entry into the office.

Akiva did not relish office work. He was in here solely to perform necessary functions of personnel management and reviewing maintenance reports. "Open," he said. When he saw Kevin, he laid down his PADD and shut down his terminal. "That's enough for now," he muttered. As stood up and approached Kevin, he appraised him head to toe before looking him dead in the eye.

"You must be Ensign Pittman," he said. Raising a beckoned hand, he added, "follow me." He then entered the corridor. "Tell me about yourself," he said over his shoulder.

Kevin took his hand and smiled as he spoke. "Chief, nice to meet you." As the two of them walked down the corridor, he responded to the inquiry. "Well sir, top five percent of my class, served as commander of Omega Squad and went on to get my preferred assignment here on the Vindex after my cadet cruise evaluations were the highest out of my operations class."

Kevin felt it best to pause there and wait to see what else, if anything the Lieutenant wanted to know.

"Wonderful," Akiva said flatly. He turned a corner, tore open a wall panel, and pointed. "Identify this subsystem and give an operational assessment."

Pittman smiled at the Lieutenant as he began his identification without looking at the panel. “That is the emergency subspace relay system, which ties directly into the operations center of this department. Its primary functions are emergency channels, its second and primary use in non-emergencies are the level four and five encryption levels used by senior staff when communicating with Starfleet and other ships.”

Taking a glance at the panel for a second, Kevin then looked back at the Lieutenant and continued, “I’d say it’s fully operational as it’s a monitored system and removal of the panel usually results in an instantaneous report to the bridge and a response from a security team within..."

Before Pittman could finish his sentence, two security officers rounded the corner and stopped shy of the two. Their posture changed when they noticed it was the Chief Operations Officer at the panel. Looking at him instead of Kevin, they inquired.

“Everything alright, sir?”

Kevin smirked at the response time. Security was much faster onboard this ship that the starbase.

"Just putting the new guy through his paces," Akiva replied. "Dismissed." When the security team returned to their post, Akiva looked back to Kevin. "Very good. Ensign Hall choked at that one," he said with a wry grin. "This was not a test of your knowledge, Ensign Pittman, but a demonstration of the situation on this ship. It is a very tight ship. We are not at the Academy or even in Federation space. We are being hunted by an enemy bigger and stronger than we are. Ours is a place of constant vigilance."

He leaned forward, turning his tone serious. "We're Ops. We anticipate the problems that blindside the rest of the crew. Let the others worry about the warp core or the sensor array -- we are the invisible people who keep the boat running so that when there's a hull breach or boarding party, our security and engineering teams don't get themselves killed due to any surprises. There is no glory to be found in this department, Ensign. We only know we've done our job when we've been taken for granted. Understood?"

"Understood, sir." Closing the panel for the Lieutenant, he inquired. "Will you be needing anything else from me, Lieutenant?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Akiva said. He leaned in even closer, putting his just chin over Kevin's shoulder to whisper in his ear. "Some... issues have arisen that do not add up. I can't be everywhere at once, and you've got a good head on your shoulders. Be on the lookout for anything or anyone that appears unusual or out of place. Report anything suspicious to myself, or if I am unavailable, directly to Lieutenant T'Mia or the captain." He stepped back to look Kevin in the eye. "Can I count on you, Ensign?"

With a raised eyebrow during the ex-parte communication, Kevin listened closely to his supervisor. When he pulled away, a slow nod followed as responded in kind.

"Of course sir."

Akiva nodded. "Very good. Dismissed."

Nodding once more to the Lieutenant, Pittman titled his head slightly as he made his way to his quarters to try and relax a bit before the start of his shift.